Archive for November 7th, 2018

These 2 dolls arrived less than 24 hours after I placed my orders, I looked at the Shipper’s address, it is about 3-hour drive away from me. but it still shocked me –as Mattel is the slowest company when it comes to shipping no matter where it ships from, it takes days to process your orders then it ships via “Smart Post” (the real name should be Slow Post) –but this time the dolls came via FedEx Home Delivery.

Initially I was only going to buy this Safari doll, once I confirmed that the edition size is limited to 1,000, I bought the other two.

however, Mondrian Dress has not arrived. I placed the orders separately to save $30.

The Safari doll’s outfits are highly detailed, but its not difficult to make since they don’t have lining. the Paris Gown is rather simple but fully lined. They are “Barbie Look” type dolls, the designs do not live up the $150 price tag if you don’t consider the brand value of Yves Saint Laurent.

These dolls are also over-packaged. it contributed to the high cost. The net weight of a Model Muse Barbie is around 3 OZ, the whole “Barbie look” package is about 10.5 OZ. but YSL Doll package (including shipper) is 7 LBS each. shipping is extremely expensive (I guess they were airlifted from China to USA). The worse part is that the bulky & heavy package design is not good for either display or storage. they could have just used an acrylic display box if they don’t mind the 7 lbs.

All three dolls are limited to 1,000 units, certificates are numbered. usually, platinum label dolls are sold out in a blink of an eye. but after 2 days, they are still available. they had the potential to sell out within 15 minutes regardless of the high prices, but the sales is badly mishandled, Mattel overestimated its popularity & platinum brand value by choosing not to promote them. it further damaged the “Barbie Signature” brand when you couldn’t even sell platinum editions.

Disney’s new Princess Premiere Collection has 6 dolls, each is limited to 5,000 units, Disney started promoting them 1 month before the first release through different media outlets, explaining the design concepts and how they would be released ( Starting Saturday, October 6, a new doll would be released each Saturday through November 10 online at 12 a.m. PST), it excited its fan base as well as the 2nd market sellers. the dolls were sold out in 5 minutes (or less), then eBay prices soared up to $500 — well, you still have a slim chance to catch the last one on Nov 10th. You see, I am not a Princess doll collector, but if I know Disney’s new releases, then, Disney has done great job in its promotion!

Mattel needs to change its arrogant attitude–the way it treats Barbie Fan club members is very abusive. when you take your customers for granted, your business go down to the toilet.

I did not join the Fan club, but I did get $30 discount. I don’t know if Mattel intentionally gave the $30 reward or its just another mistake.